Egypt’s Prime Minster Atif Ubaid recently visited the new port of Sukhna, located 54 kilometers south of tSuez. Ubaid's visit aimed to clarify the state role in the first port to be managed by the private sector.
The new port, whose experimental phase of operations began less than a month ago, will commence full operations by the end of 2001. So far, some 75 percent of the road and service utilities have been completed at the site. Constructing the first phase of this 87 square kilometer port, cost a total of LE 750 million ($177 million).
Muhsin Al-Masri, first undersecretary of the ministry of maritime transportation and chairman of the Red Sea Ports Authority stated that the Sukhna port, which would function as a multi-purpose port has a capacity of nine to 12 million tons annually, reported Al-Alam Al-Yaum.
Al-Masri added that the Ain Sukhna Port Development Company, a 100 percent privately owned company, has been awarded the concession to manage the port and prepare the wharves as well as purchase the necessary equipment.
Another company is to be established to supply 10 million-ton oil tankers and transport vessels to the port. The company will be run jointly by the Sukhna Development Firm and the Ports Authority in conjunction with the ministry of petroleum.
The construction of the new Egyptian container port of Ain Sukhna is part of an extensive infrastructure programme commissioned by the Egyptian government. The first harbour of its kind on the Red Sea coastline bordering the Suez Canal, the project is being executed by Archirodon Overseas, a Greek construction company specializing in the Middle East projects, reported . — (Mena Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
